Chapter 7

Parties, Lessons and a Cat

The entire team, the freshmen, and Mr. Inoue and Ms. Shiba; decided to walk to Kawamura's Sushi, while Coach Ryusaki, Sakuno and Ryoma took a taxi to the hospital so Ryoma could get his eye checked out. I was walking between Syusuke and Eiji; who was hanging all over me in his own "I-love-hugging-people" way. We didn't really talk much about anything other than the match, but I did note that Syusuke, Tezuka and Kaidoh were speaking much, if not at all. When we got to the restaurant we were surprised to find that Taka's dad had closed early, and prepared for a Seigaku Victory party. I sat at a table with Eiji, Syusuke, Momo and Kaidoh, and quickly realized that if I wanted any sushi, I would have to eat faster than that, or Momo and Eiji would leave me without any food.

"Ne, Ne! Momo-chan leave some food!" Eiji yelled when Momo took a piece he was about to eat.

"Nope! This is my sushi!" Momo said, taking the edge of his plate, and barreling piece after piece. Then he tried to grab a piece that was in the place in front of Syusuke. He took a bite, and then "Argh!"

"Momo?" I asked curiosly

"This is horrible! What is this?" Momo asked, drinking as much water as he could.

"Saa… those are sushi with wasabi Momo-chan" Syusuke said with his creepy smile in place.

"Couldn't you have warned him before he took it?" I asked.

"But it's more fun like this" Syusuke said now smirking.

"Fuji-senpai! Why can't you treat me nicely?" Momo said, still drinking water.

"Nya! Momo-chan too bad, cause he treats us all like that" Eiji said smiling.

"Not everyone" Syusuke said, somewhat mysteriously.

It was then when the door opened and we saw the Ryusaki's and Ryoma. Ryoma tried to leave, but the guys didn't let him leave at all. Soon enough the commotion died down, and they just relaxed. After a while Tezuka, Oishi and Coach Ryusaki took their leave, but the rest of us stayed. Momo was sitting with the freshmen, seemingly giving them advice about tennis, while Kaidoh made a snarky comment here and there. Eiji and Taka where sitting at the counter with Inui, and Taka's dad, retelling the game for him, and the reporters had already taken their leave.

"Did you enjoy the game?" Syusuke asked me, when I was momentarily distracted.

"Huh.. what was that?"

"I wanted to know if you enjoyed the game" he repeated smiling.

"I did actually… would have hoped to see less injuries, but it was a nice game" I said, looking to Taka and Ryoma.

"True… less injuries would have been better" Syusuke said looking down to the floor.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault what happened to Taka" I said quickly putting my hand on his arm. "If anything, you are the reason he didn't strain his wrist any more, by stopping him from playing"

"It was the right thing to do" he responded, his eyes open. "But he still defended me"

"Syusuke, you can't change that. The same way for you it was the right decision to stop to the game, for Taka it was the right decision to return that shot"

"Saa, I guess you are right" he said, his smile returning.

"You guess?"

"Alright, alright… you are right" he amended.

After the celebrations I made my way back home with Syusuke and Eiji. It was early when I got home, so went on to unpack the last few boxes I had left in my room, which I remember my mom complained about this past week. That night I went to sleep a little early. That Sunday was one of those lazy days where one spends laying down and watching movies or stuff on TV. Monday at school the routine was still seemingly in place, there was though one odd moment when after school I took a walk by the tennis courts, and noted that practice was a little strong as the week before, in fact it also finished a little early. I hung out with the guys for a while that afternoon, and then home to do homework. The next day though, Syusuke went home with me as I had a tutoring day with him. We worked away our math homework that day, and he helped me understand both the class of the past two days, and he explained a little what would be next.

That was pretty much the week for me. School, hanging out with the guys, tutoring with Syusuke, helping out with the restaurant every now and then, and just relaxing. It wasn't until Wednesday of the following week that something weird happened. At the afternoon practice, I noticed that most the players, and mostly the regulars were acting a little strange. It wasn't until I noticed that Tezuka, Oishi and Ryoma were missing that I realized why everyone was acting so weird. I decided that even though today Syusuke and I didn't have a math day, I would ask him about it, since I knew none of the regulars were known for missing practices.

After classes I walked over with Syusuke to the tennis courts and the clubhouse, and I also asked if he and maybe Eiji and Taka would want to go to the café today. He said he'd ask the others in the clubhouse.

Practice seemed a little shorter than usual mostly because no player was running laps as usually you'd see from Tezuka's punishments. Also, as the prefectural tournament wouldn't start until two weeks later, the pace was set slower. The guys also seemed focused on something else, and so even the second and first years were picking up the off vibe.

After practice was finally done, I noticed that Syusuke was the only one to join me at the water fountains.

"No one else coming?" I asked.

"Eiji said something about finding Oishi, Taka has to work, and Inui seems to have collected some data. Kaidoh hissed, so I assume that one is a no" Syusuke said smiling. "Momo said he was already treating the freshmen, so he didn't feel like treating us to food too"

"I see" I said, and then nodded towards the school entrance. "Let's Go. I feel like getting a slice of pie"

"I feel more like a smoothie, that I do"

I shrugged and we started on our way to the café, we didn't really feel like talking much on the way, but I'm pretty sure we were both thinking about the same thing, where the three missing regulars could have been today.

The café was slightly crowded but we managed to get a booth, at first we just ordered our snacks and silently ate, it wasn't until after I'd finished that he said anything.

"You noticed it too, didn't you?" he said, his face serious.

"Tezuka, Oishi, and Ryoma" I said. "Yes, I noticed they weren't there."

"Practice was weird because of it. If it had only been one of them, it wouldn't have mattered much, two would have been weird, but three is just something to think about"

"It hasn't happened before?"

"Not without knowing why. Today we just didn't know where they were."

"What about coach Ryusaki? Wouldn't she know?"

"She knew, she just wouldn't say anything"

"You have an idea where they are don't you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because… I'm not really sure, but I think that you do know something, or have a good guess"

"It's something Tezuka said during Ryoma's last match, something about Ryoma's playing style"

"What was it?"

"That Ryoma's style was an exact copy of his father's style" Syusuke said, getting serious immediately.

"So now you will explain to me how that has anything to do with why they are missing today"

"Tezuka is the team captain, someone who even when considering this year's tournaments importantly, he also considers the future of the Seigaku tennis club"

"Momo, Kaidoh and Ryoma?"

"That and the other second year and freshmen. They are what will make the team after we graduate. But it isn't only that, he also see's that Ryoma will be an exceptional player one day"

"One day? I thought he was already good"

"He is, but he could be a lot better, especially if he could play his own tennis"

"Ok, now you are just confusing me on purpose"

"Ryoma plays a carbon match copy of his father's tennis, not something of his own; knowing Tezuka, he would take it upon himself to show him that he won't be able to beat this country's best players unless he figures out his own tennis, his own style."

"And he would do that by…?"

"Playing a match"

"Off course, that one was kind of obvious"

"But that's not what bothers me. Tezuka's injury is what I'm considering"

"I feel like I need a summary of the club status to keep up" I said shaking my head. "Tezuka's injury?"

"He got an elbow injury a few years back, but it hasn't bothered him, unless it was a very strong or difficult game"

"Which playing against Ryoma is bound to happen"

"Exactly"

"This is interesting"

"Saa, this is just a guess, I don't actually know what is going on" he said, his smile back in place.

I narrowed my eyes at that for a moment, knowing full well that Syusuke probably knew that his idea was as close as it could be to the actual truth.

"You know A-lex-chan, I've never heard you talk about any interests you have sports wise" he said, changing the subject not too subtly.

"Yeah I did actually… football remember" I said with a smirk.

"Saa, you are right, sorry I forgot"

"Its fine, I can tell you are distracted." I said with a smug smile, while he hid behind his usual smile.

He, as usual, walked me home, and as usual I waited to go in the house until he disappeared down the street. I would have thought things would change back to normal after the day before, but I was again surprised when I didn't see Tezuka at all in school, and I heard Ryoma was missing as well.

I was waiting outside the clubhouse before practice started, and in a moments glance, caught eyes with Syusuke, and we both understood the truth, that maybe that game did actually happen. That day at our math session we didn't really discuss the thing about Tezuka, I knew Syusuke didn't want to talk about it from the moment I met him after practice.

The following day, things seemingly went back to normal, as all the regulars were at practice, but I noticed something was different about it. Ryoma himself was playing differently, as if the reason was something else, something more important than just playing tennis.

"He has someone else to beat now" Syusuke said from in front of me, the fence the only thing between us.

"What do you mean?"

"Before, Ryoma was only focused in beating his dad, but now, he has found someone else to beat, some new obstacle in his path."

I looked back at Ryoma, and noted that he indeed was more focused on the practice match against Momo than he would have been any other time.

"Why is that?"

"That kid has something special. Every time he finds an obstacle, he evolves, and adapts and plays better than before."

"So by giving him a new obstacle, Tezuka has pushed Ryoma to a new level"

"Not only that, but he has shown him that he cannot play tennis with the only goal to beat one person"

"Fuji 20 laps" Tezuka's voice boomed from across the court from where we were standing.

"Sorry" I said, taking a few steps back.

"Saa… its fine" he said, starting to move to make his laps. "Will you wait until practice is over. I feel like a smoothie again."

"Fine by me, but you are buying today" I said smirking, and went to sit under a tree in the shade.

That afternoon was a lot more calm than the one before, and so were the next few days. It wasn't until the Thursday before the prefectural tournament that I noticed something weird. I was in math, and while laboriously taking my notes next to the window-viewing-tensai; there was a moment when I looked at him to see if he really wasn't paying attention when I noticed something beyond him. There was a cat, sitting there, in a branch in front of a window, staring at Syusuke, like he was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Syu…"

"Alex-san, can you tell me the answer to this math problem?" the teachers voice boomed from the blackboard.

"Ano.. what?" I said turning to look at the board. "The problem…?"

"Alex-san, the answer to the problem" the teacher repeated.

"x is equal to four tenths" Syusuke whispered from my side.

I relayed the answer to the teacher who said it was right, and then took my seat. I looked back to the window and saw that the cat was gone. I frowned at that, and then continued paying attention to the rest of class. At the end of the day I was still trying to convince Syusuke about the cat on the window.

"But it was there! I saw it!" I said to him.

"Saa, but I didn't see a cat there" Syusuke said. "I think that you are just embarrassed that you didn't know the answer to the problem"

"I did! But the cat on the window distracted me!" I said in exasperation.

"What cat on the window?" he asked, his smile still in place.

I rolled my eyes at that and kept walking, not noting the way Syusuke's hand had been close to taking my own.